You are here

New York

After one round of the NHL Playoffs, here are five things learned as the second round gets underway.

1) New York needs more offense in round two

The New York Rangers are a popular pick to be the last team standing at the end of the daunting NHL Playoffs. They did everything you’d expect from a Stanley Cup favorite in the regular season. They were third in both goals scored and goals against rankings, which ultimately led to their third Presidents’ Trophy victory in franchise history. In five playoff games against the Pittsburgh Penguins, however, the Rangers’ overall play significantly diminished in quality. New York scored only 11 goals and went a dismal 3-for-20 on the power play, all of which are serious concerns for the Rangers, who are set to take on the Washington Capitals in Round 2. The lone bright spot for the Eastern Conference’s top seed was goalie Henrik Lundqvist’s evolution into playoff form. Rightfully referred to by the New York faithful as “King Henrik”, the 2012 Vezina Trophy winner posted a 1.54 Goals Against Average and a .939 save percentage against the Pens. If the King continues to stymie opposing offenses and the Rangers’ own offense addresses their woes, then New York will pose legitimate concerns for opponents moving forward.

2) Chicago’s depth proved to be the difference

From double overtime in Game 1 to triple overtime in Game 4, the Chicago Blackhawks seemed to outlast the Nashville Predators by using experience to their advantage. While the Predators scored more goals in the series than the Blackhawks, winning that battle 21-19, Chicago was able to score major series-altering goals including two overtime winners from two different defensemen, Duncan Keith and Brent Seabrook. Blackhawks Captain Jonathan Toews led the team with 8 points in the series, and four other ‘Hawks had 5 points or more. Offensively, depth has always been a strong suit in the playoffs for Chicago. This year, depth in the net-minding position may have tilted the series in their favor. After surrendering three goals on 12 shots in Game 1, starter Corey Crawford was pulled and relieved by Scott Darling, who stopping 42 shots and surrendered no goals in a double OT win. In Game 2, Coach Joel Quenneville went back to Crawford, and the result was a 6-2 loss. Darling then started Games 3-6, but after only stopping 33 of 40 shots in the last two games, Darling lost the job, and Crawford stopped the last 13 shots the Predators took in the series. Quenneville has stated that Crawford will get the start in Game 1 against the Minnesota Wild, but the goalie carousel will continue in Chicago unless Crawford plays the way he did in 2013 when the Blackhawks hoisted The Cup.

3) St. Louis has the playoff blues

Despite tying the Anaheim Ducks for the most points in the Western Conference, the St. Louis Blues were dispatched in the first round of the playoffs for the third consecutive season. St. Louis has the talent to not only get out of the conference quarterfinals but also contend for a Stanley Cup Championship. Vladimir Tarasenko headlines the star-studded lineup, and he played rather well in the series against the Minnesota Wild, finding the back of the net six times. Goal scoring as a team, however, plagued the Blues as they totaled only 14 goals in six games. Captain David Backes and free agent pickup Paul Stasny contributed a mere one goal each. Lower than expected production was a result of both poor execution and opposing goaltending. After allowing six goals in Game 4, Wild goalie Devan Dubnyk put together back-to-back games in which he only surrendered one tally. No matter how well Dubnyk played, mustering only two total goals in the final two games of the series is unacceptable for a team of this caliber. Blues head coach Ken Hitchcock’s future with the team may be in jeopardy after another poor postseason showing.

4) Anaheim looks like a serious contender

The Anaheim Ducks managed to sweep the Winnipeg Jets by leading just 38 minutes and 26 seconds of the 245 minutes and 12 seconds that were played during the four contests. This may sound alarming for the top seed in the West, but outscoring the opposition 10-1 in the third period and overtime of this series signals that when the game is up for grabs, the Ducks are the more determined team. Corey Perry, who notched 7 points, and the offseason acquisition Ryan Kesler, who added five of his own, led the Ducks in scoring. Acquiring Kesler is proving to be a worthy move for the Ducks as he scored some of the biggest goals in the series, including an overtime-forcing tally on the road late in Game 3. Continued production from Kesler and Perry as well as increased output from Captain Ryan Getzlaf will be key in a second round showdown with the surging Calgary Flames. Both teams are top 4 in the playoffs in both goals per game and power play percentage, so expect this series to be a high scoring thriller out west.

5) Home ice is crucial in close out games

Teams playing at home with the opportunity to end the series were a combined 6-2 in the first round. The only losses were Montreal playing Ottawa at home with a 3-1 series lead and the Detroit Red Wings facing the Tampa Bay Lightning with a three games to two edge at the famous Joe Louis Arena. Home ice advantage proved to be monumental in both Game 7. The Washington Capitals were able to eliminate the New York Islanders in a close 2-1 game, and the Lightning dispatched the Red Wings by a score of 2-0 behind goalie Ben Bishop’s best night of the postseason. Both Game 7 environments were electric, and the home players of both teams certainly fed off the crowds’ energy to seal the games late in the third period. Vigorous playoff atmospheres in the NHL surely give the hometown players an extra spark on the ice, and that extra step over the opposition usually ends up being the difference in a tight series-clinching game.

Starting next year, the University will grant a full scholarship to a child of a police officer or a firefighter killed in the line of duty through the New York-based Silver Shield Foundation.

The foundation, established in 1982, sets aside an education fund for each surviving child in order to guarantee support with tuition payments and educational services, such as tutoring.

“We are honored to offer this opportunity to a top student, whose family has given so much to their city and country,” UT President William Powers Jr. said in a press release. “The Silver Shield Foundation has helped so many families, and we are proud to join them with this scholarship.”

While the organization has teamed up with New York schools to provide students with $20,000, the University is the first postsecondary institution to join a new initiative. This initiative allows the foundation to work with universities to pay a qualified New York-area student’s full college tuition, according to William Walter, co-chairman of the Silver Shield Foundation. Tuition and related expenses can add up to more than $35,000 a year for non-Texas residents.

“We are trying to partner with better schools so that students work and try harder to get into these institutions,” Walker said. “What UT has done for these children, who just lost their father, is provide them with hope and broaden their horizons.”

UT pioneered the initiative, granting the organization hope that it will now be easier to get other schools on board, Walter said.

“It’s overwhelming — the generosity and kindness that it took to get this started,” Walker said. “Because of UT, we will be able to get many more schools to grant scholarships to these children, and give them the opportunity to go wherever they want.”

Approximately 800 students have already gone to school with money from the foundation, or have the money set aside for when they do go, Walter said.

“We always receive heartwarming letters from students who have graduated and are now pursuing their careers,” Walter said. “They tell us they wouldn’t have had that opportunity if it weren’t for us.”

This scholarship is a way for the school to give back to those who have heroically given their lives to save others, UT spokesman Gary Susswein said.

“The foundation has a profound impact on these kids — they often don’t have financial means to go to college,” Susswein said. “It helps students get on the right track to succeed after having suffered these incredible losses.”

Greg Foley is an artist and designer based out of New York. He visited the College of Fine Arts on Monday to deliver a lecture on his design work and to critique students’ artwork.

Illustrator and branding designer Greg Foley has worked with Calvin Klein, Louis Vuitton and Warner Bros. His next venture: student mentor.

When Foley isn’t working with designer brands, he writes and illustrates children’s books and works as the creative designer for various fashion magazines. Now, he’s seeking to take his multi-faceted artistic perspective to students, starting in his native Austin at UT.

As part of a lecture series through the College of Fine Arts, Foley critiqued students’ artwork and shared his learning experiences with aspiring authors, illustrators and creative designers. The series, which seeks to actively connect students with artists working in their respective industries, features professionals from a wide range of artistic fields with the aim of fostering relationships between those professionals and UT students.

The lectures are open to all students, and, occasionally, the series also offers workshops with experts from a certain field.

Carma Gorman, director of the design division within the College of Fine Arts, said it sometimes takes an outside voice for students to take their professors’ advice to heart.

“[The series is] just to give students some feedback from someone that’s not us,” Gorman said. “In the same way that it’s hard for teenagers to hear what their mom and dad say, it becomes more meaningful to hear the same thing from someone else.”

Foley, who grew up in Austin but now lives in New York, began his artistic career with the nudge of a high school teacher who encouraged him to participate in art competitions. He said young people can find it difficult to know what to do with their lives, but a point comes when they find their passion and understand how to practically apply it.

“I had no idea what I might want to do,” Foley said.
“Realizing that I could go to art school was a huge relief, and I think that it was probably from the moment that I arrived at the design school, I realized that’s where I belonged.”

After high school, Foley’s itch to escape Austin and desire to explore the world of fashion design led him to the Rhode Island School of Design. He graduated in 1991, and, from there, he helped create Visionaire fashion magazine as well as V magazine and VMAN, for which he is the creative designer and director.

Foley said surrounding himself with a like-minded, passionate community inspired his wide-ranging career path. He said finding the right support along the way is essential if students want to carve out their own successful path.

“Follow your creative questions, find a creative community and do a lot of favors,” Foley said. “You find the same people who are looking to do the things that you want to do, and, together, you make those things happen.”

Overlapping artistic fields can pave the way for a wealth of opportunities for up-and-coming artists, Foley said. He added that social media can take these fields to new heights by providing low-cost or free publicity.

“I think more and more people are expressing their ideas through many different mediums,” Foley said. “We’re in a revolutionary moment with
social media. You also can control your own promotion and actually find your audience without anybody getting in the way.”

Foley said he values his experiences that began in Austin. He wants to reconnect with his home and is eager to begin his return to Austin with the UT community.

“I was dying to get out of Austin,” Foley said. “But now, I look forward to visiting Austin and introducing myself to the University. Maybe it’s a way for me to bring my story back.”

Erez Biton used his literary talents to invent a type of language through poetry that had been previously non-existent in Israeli society, according to a visiting Israeli professor from New York.

Prior to Biton’s poetry, Hebrew literature primarily dealt with the motives of Jewish life in Europe, according to Sami Shalom Chetrit, a renowned Moroccan-Israeli poet and professor, who spoke Monday at the Avaya auditorium.

“[Biton] writes about this singer in the court of the king of Morocco, [which] was new and never done before,” Chetrit said. “The essence of his poetry is that he was searching.”

One of the most inspiring aspects of Biton’s story, according to Cherit, was his ability to use his experiences as a blind man to approach poetry in his own way.

Briton became blind at a young age when he lost his sight in an accident with a hand grenade.

“We went walking around. And that’s when we found that bomb, that hand grenade,” Biton said. “I was so convinced that it was a treasure that I wanted to open it myself. I took it one hand and hit it with a hammer, and it exploded.”

In a documentary produced by Chetrit about the poet’s life, Biton said his disability allowed him to relate to other individuals in unfortunate circumstances. This contributed to his active role with the Israeli Black Panthers, a prominent socialist organization in the 1970s.

“[When] all the panthers were enlisted into the war, I found myself completely alone,” Biton said in the documentary. “That’s when I started producing poetry.”

Biton spent a period of his life in Morocco and was motivated by the societal injustices he saw to create revolutionary poetry. Chetrit said he created the documentary in order to spread Biton’s story to those who hadn’t heard it.

Louis Black, co-founder of South By Southwest and The Austin Chronicle, is bringing something new to SXSW — “Made in Texas.” Made in Texas is a program of six short films with topics as wide-ranging as aluminum-clad aliens, Jim Morrison and a mother and daughter lost on a road trip — but what all the films share in common is that they were, indeed, made in Texas.

The movies were originally filmed around Austin in 1980 and premiered in New York in 1981. They will re-premiere at SXSW on Friday at the Marchesa Theatre and again the following Friday at the Alamo Ritz.

The program’s films — “Death of a Rock Star,” “Invasion of the Aluminum People,” “Speed of Light,” “Fair Sisters,” “Mask of Sarnath” and “Leonardo, Jr.” — were influenced by the punk and new-wave scenes that took Austin by storm in the early ’80s. Black, who directed “Fair Sisters” and produced “Mask of Sarnath,” said he believes the films act as a kind of time capsule for the Austin film community.

“In restoring these films, we get to restore honor to these people,” Black said. “The talent in this town at that time was extraordinary, and they all worked together. When you see the credits for one of these films, you’ll see that a lot of those people are on the credits for one of the other films.”

After director Jonathan Demme, who helped assemble the original collection of films, was honored at SXSW last year, he and Black began discussing the possibility of a rerelease. Black said they were sure the films would still hold meaning.

“The great thing about this program is that young and old filmmakers who have seen these films are blown away by them,” Black said. “Watching them now, you would still think of them as something that nobody’s done before.”

Paul Collum, UT alumnus and writer of “Speed of Light,” said his film — set in 1963 — placed historical events in the modern context of the late ’70s, when he first started planning his project.

“The film takes place in this moment of optimism before [President John F. Kennedy’s] assassination,” Collum said. “People were making these shock waves that resonated with everyone, and that was something we heard in punk rock then.”

Both Black and Collum said the “do it yourself” attitude of punk-rock bands served as motivation for them to start making their films. Black said their shared passions pushed them forward, even though many of the filmmakers were living in cramped apartments near campus and were without much money.

“To me, Texas has always been a place where you can create yourself,” Black said. “If you were here, it was because you wanted to be here. We didn’t want to make movies that were just like everyone else’s, and if we did, we’d have been in New York or [Los Angeles] instead.”

As the films return to the screen, Black said he hopes they will connect modern audiences with the creative spirit of Austin in the late ’70s.

“I know that it’s a long program and that some people will walk out,” Black said. “But at the end of the day, I want people to celebrate these films and celebrate this microcosm that kept Austin weird.”

Johnson, who is rumored to have sold his soul to the devil in exchange for his guitar skills, only recorded 29 songs over the course of his nine-year career. The cause of his death in 1938 at age 27 is still unresolved; theories of murder and poisoning remain to this day.

After Johnson’s recordings were re-released in 1961, his work became renowned. Muddy Waters, the Rolling Stones and Eric Clapton, have all cited Johnson as one of their main influences and have covered many of his songs.

“[Johnson’s] expression — the way in which he used a small amount of notes to say a lot of stuff — that kind of economy is prized in blues,” Carson said.

Ella Fitzgerald was a jazz vocalist known for her diction, phrasing and scat singing.

“Fitzgerald was one of the people that cultivated that talent — to think about the voice as an instrument,” Carson said.

Although Fitzgerald became an international sensation, discrimination against African-American musicians was prominent when she began her career. Her “clean” image helped her to partially transcend these barriers. Fitzgerald was the first black woman to perform at the Copacabana, a famous New York City nightclub.

“She really represented an important continuum of not only blackness, but also black femininity,” Carson said.

Fitzgerald was bold enough to put her work into the public domain — uncommon for African-American musicians of the time. Her impact on jazz music remains to this day.

Marvin Gaye helped shape the sound of Motown and soul music in a way that will resonate for decades to come.

“Marvin’s style is sort of situated at this midpoint between a lot of traditions,” Carson said. “Obviously, the gospel tradition, also soul and R&B, but also jazz. Everything he did was on such a high level.”

In the early 1970s, Gaye switched the direction of his career. He began writing all of his own music, resulting in the concept album “What’s Going On.”

As he gained popularity, Gaye became a figurehead for African-Americans in music. He signed the largest contract for an African-American musician at the time. Gaye’s commentary on the world helped transform soul music into an agent for social change.

Gaye’s father fatally shot Gaye at age 44. Gaye’s popularity has only grown since his untimely death. His estate currently earns over $3.5 million per year.

Boasting the talents of Dr. Dre, 2Pac and E-40, the West Coast dominated the rap battle of the early 1990s. No one on the East Coast could hold a candle to West Coast rap — but Nas set out to change this.

New York rapper Nasir Jones incorporated flow and lyricism into his music. As one of the first truly poetic rappers, Nas combined free style and metaphoric thinking. While rappers such as Jay-Z were literal about their messages, Nas forced listeners to interpret his lyrics.

“His sense of rhythm is very tight,” Carson said. “Since he can rap so rhythmically, he was able to abandon the stuff that other rappers were doing.”

Nas’ content was ground-breaking. The urban representation he presented highly contrasted the laid-back style of West Coast rap; it commanded people to listen to a more worldly view.

Deep secrets and personal life experiences are not stories people are usually willing to share with a stranger on the street, but Brandon Stanton’s ability to coax confessions from strangers is what led to the viral success of his photo blog, “Humans of New York.” Three friends in Austin are now following suit.

The idea of getting strangers to open up inspired the founders of “Humans of Austin” to start their own photo blog. In their first month, the project’s founders — Michael Tran, University of St. Augustine physical therapy graduate student, UT neurobiology senior Kolby Vidrine and UT radio-television-film junior Preston McNabb — interviewed and photographed more than 50 people whom they believe represent a “visual anthropology of Austin.”

“We want to be representative of the whole city,” Vidrine said. “We want to bring a real connection to people and find a story within each person we talk to and photograph. Everyone who reads it should be able to find something about it that they can identify with.”

Although Humans of Austin may be similar in style to Humans of New York, the trio is determined to set its blog apart. While Humans of New York centers around often-emotional anecdotes, the founders of Humans of Austin want their content to be more uplifting and inspiring.

“New York is already an established city, and Austin is still growing,” Vidrine said. “There’s a certain weirdness here — an openness between people who can be anyone they want to be. There’s no box they have to fit into.”

Each of the founders brings varying personal experiences and passions to the project. Tran said he uses his experience as a psychology undergraduate to understand his subjects better. He prefers having subjects take posed shots with captions that elicit emotional responses. McNabb said he is partial to
candid photos.

“I even tell my family to make each other laugh when I take their pictures because I want to capture a genuine connection — the look on someone’s face when they share something they might have never shared before,” McNabb said.

Getting strangers to feel comfortable is important to Humans of Austin, Tran said. By asking simple questions — Who are you? Why are you here? What makes you happy? — the photographers encourage the subjects to open up. Once the conversation starts, it is easier for the photographer to gain insight.

“We want the questions to feel natural,” Tran said. “The goal is to get [each person] to say something they have not before, and the moment you ask the right question, you begin to see into their lives. The hard questions are the simple ones. They elicit deeper feelings, and that’s what we’re trying to get out.”

By connecting their viewers to the others in their community, the Humans of Austin bloggers hope to reestablish human connections they believe society is losing as a result of modern technology.

“This project has shown me how Austin is a changing entity,” Tran said. “I have friends who grew up here who tell me how different it was just 10 years ago, and I want to be part of documenting that change. I want to show us as humans evolving with this city.”

After a week off from action, the men’s tennis team will compete in the Florida Invitational while senior Søren Hess-Olesen competes in New York.

Representing the Longhorns at the Florida Invitational are seniors Adrien Berkowicz and Lloyd Glasspool, along with junior Nick Naumann. Sophomore George Goldhoff and redshirt freshman William Jou will also make the trip to Gainesville, Florida.

The Longhorns, however, will be without leader Hess-Olesen. The fifth-ranked two-time All-American received an at-large bid to compete at the USTA/ITA Indoor Intercollegiate Championships in Flushing, New York, beginning Nov. 6.

No. 106 Berkowicz looks to bounce back from a strong showing at the Texas Regional Championship, which ended with a semifinal loss to unranked freshman Cameron Norrie of TCU. Jou, a Houston native, looks to improve a 1-3 singles record after going winless in singles play at his Texas Regional debut.

Naumann, who was ranked 113th in ITA preseason rankings, is still looking for his first singles victory this season while No. 31 Glasspool looks to improve a 1-3 singles record. Neither Naumann, Glasspool, nor No. 56 Goldhoff competed in the Texas Regional.

The Florida Invitational will begin Nov. 7 and run through Nov. 9. Play in New York will also run through Nov. 9.

Every year, NFL fans from all over the country travel to watch the NFL Draft in hopes of their team selecting the next NFL star. But, next year, instead of booking a flight to New York, NFL fans will be rerouting their travel plans.

According to multiple reports, the 2015 NFL Draft will be held in Chicago rather than New York City. The NFL Draft has been held in New York since 1965, including at Radio City Music Hall for the past nine years.

Once the NFL learned Radio City Music Hall could not be reserved for the 2015 NFL Draft, 12 cities showed interest in hosting the Draft. The list was then narrowed to Los Angeles and Chicago before NFL officials decided the Draft will move to the Windy City.

The Chicago Bear’s twitter page posted that the Draft will be held at the Auditorium Theatre of Roosevelt University, which is located on Chicago’s busiest and most popular street, Michigan Avenue. The Draft will take place on April 30-May 2.

The NFL Draft has always been popular to football fans and the three day event in 2014 was viewed by 45.7 million people surpassing the record of 45.4 million in 2010. Popularity increased last year, in part, over speculation of which team would take Texas A&M quarterback Johnny Manziel. Curiosity over Manziel increased dramatically on draft day when he slipped all the way to No. 22 of the first round when he was finally selected by the Cleveland Browns.

Every year one major goal of NFL Commissioner Roger Goodell is to further increase fan interest in the NFL’s already incredibly popular offseason. This year Goodell believes the change in scenery might help. He is specifically hoping to strengthen interest in the rounds of the draft and keep the Draft’s TV ratings up.

"We're talking about different concepts, primarily how to strengthen the last day and whether we should maybe push that back to the clubs a little bit more and allow the clubs to have a little bit more freedom as more of a club day," Goodell said.

The last NFL Draft not to be held in New York City was coincidentally held in Chicago at the Sheraton Chicago Hotel from 1961-63. We will find out in April if the move to Chicago is another score for the NFL.

Every year, NFL fans from all over the country travel to watch the NFL Draft in hopes of their team selecting the next NFL star. But, next year, instead of booking a flight to New York, NFL fans will be rerouting their travel plans.

According to multiple reports, the 2015 NFL Draft will be held in Chicago rather than New York City. The NFL Draft has been held in New York since 1965, including at Radio City Music Hall for the past nine years.

Once the NFL learned Radio City Music Hall could not be reserved for the 2015 NFL Draft, 12 cities showed interest in hosting the Draft. The list was then narrowed to Los Angeles and Chicago before NFL officials decided the Draft will move to the Windy City.

The Chicago Bear’s twitter page posted that the Draft will be held at the Auditorium Theatre of Roosevelt University, which is located on Chicago’s busiest and most popular street, Michigan Avenue. The Draft will take place on April 30-May 2.

The NFL Draft has always been popular to football fans and the three day event in 2014 was viewed by 45.7 million people surpassing the record of 45.4 million in 2010. Popularity increased last year, in part, over speculation of which team would take Texas A&M quarterback Johnny Manziel. Curiosity over Manziel increased dramatically on draft day when he slipped all the way to No. 22 of the first round when he was finally selected by the Cleveland Browns.

Every year one major goal of NFL Commissioner Roger Goodell is to further increase fan interest in the NFL’s already incredibly popular offseason. This year Goodell believes the change in scenery might help. He is specifically hoping to strengthen interest in the rounds of the draft and keep the Draft’s TV ratings up.

"We're talking about different concepts, primarily how to strengthen the last day and whether we should maybe push that back to the clubs a little bit more and allow the clubs to have a little bit more freedom as more of a club day," Goodell said.

The last NFL Draft not to be held in New York City was coincidentally held in Chicago at the Sheraton Chicago Hotel from 1961-63. We will find out in April if the move to Chicago is another score for the NFL.